xiombarg wrote:1. Is the intent here to put mutants in a Labyrinth Lord-style fantasy world, to run a Mutant Future game with a Labyrinth Lord level of power, or both? I suspect both, but it isn't clear. Certainly the mentions of androids as NPCs seems to imply to me that a lot of Mutant Future, possibly including radiation, is considered to be "in play" under Mutants & Mazes.
Yes, if you want MF elements (radiation, technology, etc.) in your magical LL setting, they can be included.
But for androids, the M&M rules limit them to NPCs only. This is do to their inability to roll hit point (being a flat 50 hp), despite the fact that the robots in the artifact section have Hit Dice and randomly generated hit points. (Although, in GW, robots get a flat 5 hp per HD.) The rules with regards to androids assume hit points are pounds of flesh that can be eaten away, when HP also represents luck (the ability to just barely avoid an attack) and fatigue (even machines can short out, or run low on power or hydraulic fluid). Its all abstract. Personally, I tend to ignore that rule.
xiombarg wrote:2. Assuming that you *can* run characters through a Mutant Future world, or put radiation in a magic one, do replicants still get sick instead of mutating? Are pure humans still immune to mutation? What about fantasy races, like elves, halflings, and dwarves?
The immunity to mutation rule was done so that pure humans, with their attribute bonuses and higher hit dice (d8s instead of d6s), would not become more powerful with added mutations. (This rule was first introduced in 2nd ed GW.) It is safe to assume that if they (humans, replicants and Tolkien races) are immune to the mutagenic effects of radiation, but can still get sick form it.
On that note, androids would likely be immune to mind-effecting magical effects like any D&D construct creature.
xiombarg wrote:3. Speaking of pure humans, I assume that instead of getting a bunch of attribute bonuses, under Mutants & Mazes, humans just pick a class, yes?
In M&M, no one rolls on the Experience Bonus Table, as it plays as LL. As a Human, you can choose a class -- Fighter, Thief, etc.
If you want to play Tolkien races in MF, you could make them like Human Mutants, but with racial abilities in place of mutations, and with immunity to mutation. Elves on the otherhand would likely require more EXP to gain levels to off-set their spell-use. (4,001 to get to 2nd level seems right.) On the plus side, level caps are not an issue in MF!
xiombarg wrote:4. Okay, bear with me here. In the Mutants and Mazes section of Mutant Future, on p. 146, it says: "All mutants and replicants advance in saving throws and ability to hit as indicated in Mutant Future. This is the equivalent of advancement as Fighters." However, the random character advances on p. 14 don't seem much like the fighter progression to me. Do I misunderstand the fighter in Labyrinth Lord? Or is the idea that the random character advancement there is in-balance with a fighter, especially as mutants have a d6 hit die and some wild powers on top of that? (I note replicants get a d8, as per their race class description.)
Mutants require more EXP (3,001 vs 2,035 to get to 2nd level) to progress than Fighters to off-set their powerful set of mutations. Replicants get more HP, as they have less mutations.
Other things to consider:
- Vibro weapons can be treated as +2 swords, while Warp-field weapons are more.
- Monsters in MF are more inflated in Hit Dice than their LL counter parts, so you might have to low ML HD for LL use.
- When using mental mutants in LL, roll save vs spell instead of the Metal Attack Table, and use Metal Attack Table with mind-effecting magical effects in MF.
- LL Mutants save as fighters as normal, but you could rule that they save vs spells at 4-points lower than normal to make them more in-line with Magic-Users.
- When figuring-out how artifacts or magic items work, use the system most appropriate.
- High-tech scanners might not pickup magical energy, and detect magic might not pick high-tech items. Same thing with energy damping, and anti-magic fields.
- High-level LL Mutants (and Replicants) can build a settlement and attract followers like Fighters.
xiombarg wrote:I'm interested in what the authorial intent was here, or what people
think the intent was.
Knowing authorial intent helps me decide what house rules are "fair" for my own game. I understand as ML/LL/DM/GM/ST/Grand Poobah, I can do whatever I want.
Yeah... The MF rules take the character generation rules of second edition Gamma World, with some added rules like radiation and mental combat, and set to the rules of Labyrinth Lord, which in turn is based on Basic/Expert D&D. The transition left some rules a bit patchy in places, but for the most part, a good system.
Mutants & Mazes feels like an afterthought. 1&2e GW and B/X D&D are similar in a number of ways, but vary different many other ways. Getting GW to fit with LL had some challenges to work out, but reversing it proved to be a greater challenge. For example, D&D's use classes and levels are so iconic, the game — regardless of version or edition — feels naked without them, while GW's leveling system was such a tacked-on mechanic from the get-go, you could play without it and not even miss it. And as you can see from the book, mutations were re-tooled to be more like spells, with limits placed on use and level, where GW/MF mutations are just the luck (or curse) of the draw — like any genetic trait one would be born with.
